ROH on Sinclair – Episode 171 – 27th December 2014
The final Ring Of Honor broadcast of 2014, for once, has plenty riding on it. The traditional post-Final Battle off-season lull has been replaced with a surprising solid round of tapings and culminates tonight in the finals of Tag Wars 2014 as reDRagon defend the Tag Titles against three top duos – The Addiction, Jay and Mark Briscoe, and the shock finalists ACH and Matt Sydal. Stay tuned at the end of the review for my traditional year-ending wrap-up list featuring my Top 10 Matches of the year and a new countdown of the Top 10 TV Matches of the year too (since so many people asked for it last year). Kevin Kelly, Steve Corino and (eventually) Nigel McGuinness welcome us to Baltimore, MD.
We open with festive messages from the Briscoes, Jay Lethal and Adam Cole. The latter of which genuinely makes me laugh out loud…
Brian Kendrick vs Adam Cole
What a monster match this is to throw out at the end of the year on free television. Former WWE star, and veteran of Ring Of Honor going back to Era Of Honor Begins, Brian ‘Spanky’ Kendrick comes back after killing it against Silas Young a few months ago. Given that he started showing up at NXT right after this clearly he won’t be back in ROH too often either, but anytime he does show up his name means genuine quality. The fact that he is paired up with the ‘franchise’ of ROH in Adam Cole should tell you how much respect Spanky commands. Irritatingly, ROH’s taping schedule is going to make them look extremely amateurish here. Cole lost the main event of the biggest show of the year three weeks previously. Imagine WWE running three weeks of television without acknowledging the results of the WrestleMania main event. Try to suspend your disbelief and enjoy what should be a decent encounter if they get enough time…
Kendrick is clearly motivated for this and wastes no time in booting Cole right in the face then mowing him down with a running tope. A defensive former World Champion gets a frantic knee up to protect himself but continues to be completely flummoxed by the sheer speed and tenacity of Spanky. Cole’s DVD over the knee is blocked…then Brian flips out of the Florida Key to land a superkick. Sliced Bread #2 gets blocked too though, with Cole tossing Kendrick all the way to the floor. Now the signature cockiness of Cole returns and he taunts his opponent as he disrespectfully flicks kicks at him. His methodical assault on Spanky’s neck and back is particularly potent though. Kendrick fights hard to escape repeated sleeper holds, only to have his neck crunched again with a jumping enzi then a Shining Wizard. Panama Sunrise blocked…so Cole delivers a sunset flip bomb and an exposed knee Wizard variant for 2. BURNING HAMMER BY KENDRICK…for 2! What I like is that Spanky is still limping around and grasping his neck to really put over how vicious Cole’s beating has been. Sliced Bread blocked again with Cole now pursuing him up the ropes for an avalanche Florida Key. Kendrick rolls through into a tree of woe dropkick! DRAGON SUPLEX! Spanky attempts an aerial move…and catapults himself right into a superkick! Florida Key wins it for Cole at 10:33 (shown).
Rating - *** - This is the second time in recent months that Spanky has been brought in from nowhere to deliver a really classy performance in an SBG undercard match. He is another guy that never really got reach his full potential in Ring Of Honor due to circumstances and commitments in bigger promotions. Annoyingly he’s still young and good enough that there is still time to change that, but one suspects his emergence as a veteran presence in and around the NXT locker room puts pay to any hopes of an elevated profile in ROH. Cole has performed at such a consistently high level this year that this was basically nothing more than a routine showing for him. A strong start to the hour…
Jay and Mark Briscoe voice their frustration that they’ve never been able to get the better of reDRagon over the past couple of years.
reDRagon vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs The Addiction vs Matt Sydal/ACH – ROH Tag Title Match
This is the finals of Tag Wars 2014, with reDRagon defending the Tag Team Championship against the three teams that emerged victorious from their respective qualifying matches. The wildcard team here are obviously ACH and Sydal – who shocked everyone when they battled past the Young Bucks two weeks ago. As we just heard, reDRagon have had the wood over the 8-time former champs the Briscoes since they emerged as a team two years ago. Is tonight the night Jay and Mark break that hoodoo? Or is it the evening that Chris Daniels wins Ring Of Honor tag team gold with a third (or fourth, depending on your perspective of The Prophecy’s reign) different partner?
The Addiction start strongest trying to isolate ACH, meaning Sydal has to take an early tag to go at it with his former tag partner and co-Tag Champion Chris Daniels. Jay then punches him right in the face as he lines up the Double Helix on Fish. I really like that the Briscoes are looking so fired up purely because they’ve lost to reDRagon so many times previously. Mark shows his determination too by hitting O’Reilly with some seriously vicious crossface strikes. Era Of Honor Begins veterans Jay Briscoe and Christopher Daniels fall out, kick-starting a mass brawl between all three challenging duos whilst the champions stand on the apron smirking. Eventually The Addiction and the Briscoes make a beeline for the cowardly champs and everyone spills outside. Jay hits Daniels with a DVD before getting Jerry Lynn’d by Kaz. SUNSET FLIP BOMB TO THE FLOOR! RUNNING MOONSAULT BY ACH! SPRINGBOARD PLANCHA BY SYDAL! ARABIAN PRESS BY DANIELS! Kazarian levels Mark when he thinks about a dive…as Daniels joins him for Celebrity Rehab! Mark is pinned and the Briscoes are the first team eliminated at 07:12! Addiction remain in the ascendancy, putting a beating on reDRagon when we return from commercials. O’Reilly eventually has to literally run away from Daniels, allowing Bobby to opportunistically attack the Fallen Angel from behind. The rapidity and breadth of the attack on Daniels is quite breathtaking and within seconds Fish and O’Reilly have him on the back foot nursing injuries to his arm, leg and ribs. Only Daniels’ veteran instincts save him from certain defeat at the hands of Arm-ageddon at this stage. Interestingly, the champs also work hard to make sure tagging in Kaz isn’t an option open to the isolated Daniels…SO HE TAGS MATT SYDAL INSTEAD! That’s awesome since that’s his former partner! Slice drops Fish, followed by the Meteora on Kyle! FROG CROSSBODY from ACH to Fish gets 2. Frankie launches into battle with both ACH and Sydal, somehow emerging from an ACH monkey flip to basically spear Matt into the turnbuckles. Slingshot cutter on Sydal…ACH with the Tornado Kick on Kaz! He then collides with Daniels to leave all six men on the mat! Kazarian and ACH fight on the ropes until Sydal rescues his partner from the Flux Capacitor and knocks Kaz to the ground. SYDAL PRESS ON DANIELS! 450 SPLASH! It’s another shock for the ACH/Sydal duo as they eliminate The Addiction at 16:40 (shown). But do they have anything left in the tank? reDRagon pounce on a fatigued ACH, coming close to taking him out with Chasing The Dragon. Sydal makes another save and prawns O’Reilly right out of the ring. ACH HITS AIR JORDAN! 450 SPLASH MISSES! Tilta-whirl backbreaker/knee drop combo nailed…before Sydal makes yet another save! Smash & Axe (he did it the other way round) from Kyle to Matt! TOTAL ELIMINATION! CHASING THE DRAGON! reDRagon retain at 19:16 (shown).
Rating - **** - I’d not heard too much praise for this match, but considering it was given away for free on television I thought it was an absolute riot. It was basically constant action for twenty minutes – what’s not to like about that? There was also plenty of substance behind the spots, from reDRagon perfectly walking a fine line between absolute dicks and ass-kicking machines, the neat interactions between Daniels and Sydal, and the continued emergence of the from-nowhere duo of ACH and Sydal. They may have only been thrown together for this show, but as far as I’m concerned they should now be teaming up on at least a semi-regular basis because they were SO much fun to watch.
Tape Rating - **** - The year ends with a bang for Ring Of Honor, with a really fine hour of television. No wasted airtime at all, just two really decent matches. Cole/Kendrick did exactly what it needed to and showcased the supreme professionalism of the two participants, whilst the Tag Wars 2014 finals produced a non-stop twenty minute thrill-ride which provided the perfect conclusion to an amazingly successful set of episodes considering their occupation of the post-Final Battle dead-zone.
Top 5 Baltimore Taping Matches
5) Michael Elgin vs Hanson (** - Episode 170)
4) Adam Cole vs Brian Kendrick (*** - Episode 171)
3) Matt Sydal/ACH vs Young Bucks (**** - Episode 169)
2) reDRagon vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs The Addiction vs Matt Sydal/ACH (**** - Episode 171)
1) Tommaso Ciampa vs Cedric Alexander (**** - Episode 170)
2014 Top 10 ROH on SBG Matches
10) reDRagon vs Matt Sydal/ACH vs The Addiction vs Briscoes (**** - Episode 171)
9) The Addiction vs Young Bucks (**** - Episode 155)
8) Adam Cole vs Cedric Alexander (**** - Episode 161)
7) AJ Styles vs Roderick Strong (**** - Episode 124)
6) Tommaso Ciampa vs Cedric Alexander (**** - Episode 170)
5) Jay Lethal vs ACH (**** - Episode 153)
4) Michael Elgin vs AJ Styles (**** - Episode 139)
3) Jay Lethal vs ACH (**** - Episode 165)
2) AJ Styles vs Hanson (****1/2 - Episode 166)
1) AJ Styles vs Michael Elgin (****1/2 - Episode 132)
2014 Top 10 Matches
10) Jay Briscoe/Jay Lethal/reDRagon vs Adam Cole/Roderick Strong/ACH/Tommaso Ciampa (**** - Champions vs All Stars 2014)
9) reDRagon vs Young Bucks (**** - All Star Extravaganza 6)
8) Matt Sydal vs ACH (**** - Survival Of The Fittest 2014 Night 1)
7) Adam Cole vs Jay Briscoe (****1/2 - Supercard Of Honor 8)
6) AJ Styles vs Hanson (****1/2 - ROH on SBG Episode 166)
5) reDRagon vs Young Bucks (****1/2 - Raising The Bar Night 2)
4) Michael Elgin vs Roderick Strong (****1/2 - Summer Heat Tour Cincinnati)
3) AJ Styles vs Michael Elgin (****1/2 - ROH on SBG Episode 132)
2) AJ Styles vs Kyle O’Reilly (****1/2 - Death Before Dishonor 12 Night 1)
1) AJ Styles vs Chris Hero (****1/2 - Flyin’ High)